My first week at Four Winds Westward Ho
This summer, I went to something called Four Winds Westward Ho. It is a camp for children, located near Deer Harbor on Orcas Island.
Children from all around the world go to Four Winds and spend five days and six nights at camp for the junior session. It was so great! If you go next summer in 2010, and you get homesick, I would be surprised.
I’ll give you the story about when I was about to go to Four Winds. The week before I went to Four Winds, I was extremely scared. But when my mom, dad and I jumped into the car, I didn’t feel so bad. Then I felt scared again! That kept on going for about five times.
Then at camp, 20 minutes after getting there, I said to my dad, “I already feel at home.” Before I knew it, camp was starting.
Well, now I will tell you what we did at Four Winds: horseback riding, making art and clay figures in craft courts, sailing, LSP (kind of like sports), eating yummy food, riding pony carts, grooming the horses, and working in the garden. For the junior session, you might even do something that involves pirates!
Well, that’s my story. I hope you liked it.
Paris Wilson
Orcas Island
A home built by grace
My children and I are celebrating our new residency in the Wild Rose Meadow Neighborhood! From initial application with OPAL to our move in, it was six years of intention. Little did I know what challenges would mark these intervening years: a marital separation, bankruptcy, a mate’s felony conviction, homelessness, a protracted divorce. Our home-schooling lifestyle was sacrificed when I became a single parent without resources of my own. My thread of sanity? Prayer, true friends, and work. The focus of qualifying for an OPAL-assisted purchase met my belief that a home of our own is central to being happy, healthy, and whole.
A year ago, I began to meet regularly with my potential neighbors. Final steps, outlined by the OPAL process, became manageable. To gather information, to see my situation improve, to make cooperative decisions, and to experience a collective intelligence and positive momentum is a powerful achievement. Through 14 relocations, several certificate training programs, family counseling, starting a new business, transitioning kids into full-time school, bringing closure and cooperation to divorce, clearing credit reports, requesting prayers, receiving encouragement, and the gift of a sweet partner joining our family, I am in absolute awe. Even though I have worked hard, I know others have worked parallel to me to bring this to fruition.
As my family relaxes into our new life, my heart is open to find ways to give back to our beloved community. We have been blessed to persevere through hardships. The professional expertise helped me navigate the waters of financial recovery. Watching our home be built, and meeting some of those who worked on it, made it all the more tangible. But something else is here. At dinner recently, one of my children said “thank you for my family being surrounded by love.”
And now we are sleeping, eating, and singing, for a fact, in a home built by the grace of a resourceful community. Dreams full of miracles do come true.
Morgan Leaf Meadows
Eastsound
Your opinions do make a difference
Recently, the Washington State Transportation Commission conducted a meeting on our inter-island ferry to discuss its proposals for pending ferry fare increases and to take comments from folks in our community about those proposals.
During the meeting, I overheard comments that participation didn’t matter, as the commissioners had already decided to approve the proposals and that the public meetings were “fluff” and that “our comments don’t matter.” Indeed!
Last week, the commissioners voted NOT to approve the most controversial proposal: an extra surcharge on summer travel. The main point is that your voices were heard and that your participation was important to the process. Democracy can be a frustrating institution. However, without public participation, it is a meaningless process. When we don’t “get our way,” we conclude that no one was listening. That conclusion is not logical, as we each can’t always expect to prevail.
During my many years of community service, I have heard criticisms of the individuals who are on the numerous boards, commissions and committees that serve our communities. That “they” don’t represent us, that “they” have an agenda, or that “they don’t listen to us.” I take exception to that criticism because the folks serving on those numerous commissions are us – your neighbors. Each of those community representatives is most often giving their time, energy and enthusiasm to speak on your behalf about issues that affect our daily lives with no compensation or expectation of acknowledgement. It is important that you communicate with them, share your ideas, and participate! Respect them and their commitment to act on your behalf, and expect them to respect your point of view.
Democracy may be inefficient and frustrating. It is, however, a lot better than not having an opportunity to be a participant in the process of governance.
Ed Sutton
San Juan County Ferry Advisory Committee
Crossroads funding information
In just a few weeks, the Crossroads lecture series will begin its third season with a speaker who will discuss the complex issues facing Israel and Palestine. Other fall speakers will focus on the science of memory and on health care reform, while topics planned for the spring include infectious disease, global warming, the economy, and the psychology of evil. In planning the season, the Crossroads committee has sought once again to present “thoughtful, provocative speakers who help the Orcas community think about timely issues, both local and global.”
On behalf of the committee, I am writing to explain the transition in our funding model as we enter the new season. Crossroads was originally made possible by a generous seed grant from the Francis Bacon Foundation, in the belief that the Orcas community would welcome, and ultimately support, such a series. That seed grant is now ended, and we must therefore create an alternative, sustainable funding structure if we are to maintain an on-going, high-quality lecture series. In spite of the fact that most of the work was done by our all-volunteer committee, so that there are virtually no overhead or administrative costs, each lecture requires an average of over $2000 for the speaker’s expenses, a modest honorarium, publicity, and the like. At the same time, local grants and donations cover only roughly half this cost.
As a result, the committee has concluded that it must introduce a small charge for tickets, while also making sure that complimentary tickets are available for community members who would not otherwise be able to attend. Based on a survey of attendees conducted last fall, that charge has been set at $10, and tickets can be purchased at Darvill’s and the Orcas Library starting three weeks before each lecture. A discount will be made available to those who purchase season tickets, which will cost $60 and will be good for all seven 2009-2010 events. Those who need complimentary tickets can sign up for them at the Senior Center or the Library beginning two weeks before each lecture.
We look forward to seeing the community at the lectures, which always include a question and answer period and a reception with the speaker. We welcome your ideas on issues we might cover, and your feedback on the program.
Diane Berreth
Crossroads
Committee Chair
Christian School fundraiser
Please join us on Sunday, Sept. 20 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Orcas Christian School with a silent auction that benefits our scholarship fund. The event will be held at the Discovery House at Rosario, and will feature appetizers and desserts. Tickets are $25 per person and are tax deductible. We have donations from a variety of local businesses, including items ranging from baked goods to a vacation trip to a destination of your choice.
OCS was founded in 1999 as a Christian elementary school with 26 students, and over the years has grown to K-12 with more than 100 students. As you can see if you look at the schools web site (oics.org), we have a beautiful facility and thriving programs. What you don’t see on the web site is the fact that over 50 percent of our students receive academic, athletic, or tuition assistance scholarships in order to be able to receive a Christian education. You do the math – our school needs to maintain substantial donations to continue to make it add up!
Please invest in a student and your community and support our scholarship fund by attending the anniversary auction. You can purchase tickets by calling the school at 376-6683 and ordering them. You can pay by credit or debit card, and you will truly be making a difference in the education of many students at OCS. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Sean Roach
Auction Chairman
OCS School Board
Why just Walla Walla and Bellingham for retirement?
These are two of the top 10-12 countrywide retirement communities recommended by Kiplinger and US News for 2009. “Topretirements.com” recommends Williamsburg, Ashland, Exeter, Provincetown, and Madison, N.H. for higher income baby boomers. There are no recommendations anywhere – in print or on the Internet – about retiring to Orcas. There is nothing anywhere in print or on the web about retirement life on Orcas. Our Chamber of Commerce has produced a truly outstanding web site for the island, which tells tourists about everything they need to know to plan a trip here. But there is nothing about island life for retirees. Few retirees who have the liquid resources to buy property on Orcas have heard that we are the premier West Coast community for active, independent seniors.
And should a tourist wondering around our island actually be planning on relocating for retirement years, there is no welcoming office to introduce Orcas amenities and community life to visitors. We have no program to motivate visitors to look into Orcas as a future home. No wonder the Orcas population is now declining. No wonder the inventory of empty houses grows each month. No wonder that the population of active volunteers is falling now that our retiree age is headed to over 70 years.
Over the next six to 18 months, thousands of the financially well-off repopulation we need to preserve our Orcas lifestyle will leave California to escape sharp tax increases and inadequate police protection owing to budget cuts. Will Orcas promote itself to this final demographic wave of well-off retirees who can afford Orcas? Are we prepared to work together to promote buyer demand, which turns around our sharply falling real estate prices and reduces the numbers of unsold residences? If we fail to promote Orcas to the front-end of the baby-boomers who have the financial wherewithal to relocate to Orcas, the islands will experience oversupply of empty residences for the next decade as forecast for Orcas-type property by VirginiaTech University.
Let’s get started right now!
Hugh Hendrick
Eastsound
School bus count week begins Sept. 21
The week beginning Sept. 21 is an important one for our school district. Washington State bases its transportation reimbursement rate for school districts entirely on the number of students who ride the bus during five mornings in September. That’s right – the annual reimbursement for a school district (which never fully covers the cost of transportation) is set after one week, and cannot be changed until the following year.
School districts are not required to provide bus transportation (except to a very narrow segment of the school population). However, Orcas Island School District now provides four extensive (but expensive) routes, covering much of the length and breadth of this island. Having access to these routes is a boon to students and parents, promotes sustainable transportation choices, and is an important part of the school and local community.
Please help ensure that the school district has the maximum funds possible to enable it to continue to provide this important service. If your child(ren) uses the bus, make an extra effort to ride on the mornings of Sept. 21 to 25. Thank you.
Orcas Schools’ PTSA
